Carry On

From Paulo Coelho – Warrior of the Light (p103)

“Jesus said: “Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.” When the Warrior takes on a commitment, he keeps his word.

Those who make promises they do not keep lose their self-respect and feel ashamed of their actions. These people spend their lives in constant flight; they expend far more energy on coming up with a series of excuses to take back what they said than the Warrior of the Light does in honoring his commitments.

Sometimes he too takes on a foolish commitment which will in some way harm him. He does not repeat this mistake, but he nevertheless keeps his word and pays the price for his own impulsiveness.”

I said I’d do it; so now I carry on.

When there’s no physical danger, no emotional threat; and the pledge remains intact . . . this is my best choice. How many times do we “take on a foolish commitment” – only to regret it moments, a week, a month – years later? I grew up in a throw-away society . . . where commitments seem easy to discard. The damage this does to our psyche may be more than we realize. Maybe repeating mistakes is connected somehow to our honor and our commitments.